Kou of the Howling New Star
is of the Dairangers. He is a 9-year old (27 in Gokaiger) who manages to extract Yufang's Byakkoshinken. Overview The youngest and shortest of all the Rangers in the entire Sentai series, being only nine years old and of the expected height at that age when he was chosen to be a Ranger. First appearing in Episode 17, he continued to be a major player in episodes 18-20 and taking a short break to make another appearance in Episode 22 to claim his Mythical ChiBeast. He then continued to become a major part of the series, especially in episodes 28-31, where the other Rangers found out that he was Kibaranger until the story arc of episodes 42-44. Biography Dairanger He began hearing a voice that called to him in the night when he was only nine years old. Out of curiosity and excitement, he followed the command of the voice, leading him to meet Rin, and driving her totally up the wall, sneaking into her apartment and discovering the hidden last changer that was left by Rin's uncle in her possession. At their first meeting, he grabbed Rin's breasts and looked up her skirt while he was riding his skateboard. The voice that he kept on hearing lead him to a temple, where for the first time he would encounter the boy who would become his personal nemesis and was ironically his own twin brother, Akomaru of the Gorma tribe. The voice led him to pull a sword out from a stone, and become the sixth and the last of the Dairanger, the Kibaranger. The voice that he was hearing belonged to his sword, Byakkoshinken. Later, Kou would become the best-secret keeper in the world, not known by anybody that he was the Kibaranger with only the exception of one person; Akomaru of the Gorma tribe. As Akomaru knew that the Kibaranger was a boy about his own age, and he had the mark of a tiger branded into his upper right biceps. And even though he found out that Kou was the Kibaranger the Gorma tribe had been looking for, for his own reason, his own personal gain, he kept those secrets away from everybody to the grave. It could be assumed as Master Kaku knew Byakkoshinken, he also knew the identity of Kou himself as the Kibaranger but would keep it secret until the secret uncovers itself to the other Rangers. As only nine years of age when he became Kibaranger, he was new to fighting and was not particularly strong. Fortunately of course to hide his identity, the Kiba Changer allows him to assume an adult-form as the Kibaranger. Initially, as his identity was kept secret from the other Dairangers, the Byakkoshinken would often speak for him instead Kou speaking for himself, but after the story unfolds and as his identity became known to the other Dairangers he would talk for himself. As a child, Kou spent his first four years of his life with his mother, who had poured every ounce of love into every moment of his life, until the day came when she burned the tiger brand into his arm. She never explained why and disappeared very shortly after that, leaving her little son in the care of a pair of green grocers who assumed that she was dead. Every moment of his life, Kou was always sure never doubting that she was still alive somewhere, and with the fast approach of his tenth birthday, he was detained by an obligation to find her. This obligation was laid by none other his own mother. With Kou's heritage of the Gorma tribe by his father, he has to see his mother before his tenth birthday, or else he would become a Gorma, despite what everybody wanted. He was not aware of this knowledge, nor was he aware of the knowledge that Shadam was his father. His birthday fell on the Christmas on the Gregorian calendar, and once Shadam realized that Kou was half Gorma, he wanted to recruit him to the Gorma. The great love of Kou's life was Rin. To him, Rin was both a replacement for the mother he had lost, and a dream of marriage of his own. He was dreadfully jealous of Rin's time, but under influence, he became a gentler, saner boy than he was before. As the Kibaranger he specializes in sound-based attacks. In Episode 45 when Master Kaku showed his true colors to the Dairangers, much to his dismay of wanting to take action and helping the other Dairangers, he was asked by Ryou to stay behind as his Lailai Jewel was taken by force by Master Kaku. He would later come to his team's aid along with Kameo in Episode 46. In Episode 47, the Dairanger's Aura Changers had been taken by Kaku and they tried to get on with their lives. Kou tells Rin that he wants to fight again, but she tells him to forget about it. He mentions that his mother wanted him to continue fighting as Kibaranger and that it was her dying wish. In Episode 48, the Dairangers got their Aura Changers and Lailai jewels back and the Kiba Changer was with the others and he was able to transform once again, though he now fought at his regular height. He fought alongside them against Zaidosu. In Episode 50, he joined with his teammates against Shadam as the Gorma Palace fell apart. In the epilogue, fifty years have passed and a picture of Kou as an older man is seen in Rin's apartment. It's mentioned that he cannot reunite with the other Dairangers as he is attending a business meeting. Gaoranger vs. Super Sentai KibaRanger is among the Sentai warriors seen in clips when Yusuke Amamiya (Red Falcon) lectured Gaku Washio (GaoYellow) about the past Sentai sword experts, showing him that the true sword wasn't the sharpest, but the one that feeds on courage. Gokaiger Legend War Years later, as an adult, Kou fought alongside not only his own team, but every single Sentai ranger in existence, against the Empire of Zangyack when it attacked the Earth in the Great Legend War. After fighting against hundreds of Gormin and their Zgormin commanders. Akarenger noticed the fleet moving towards them, he gathered all the Rangers together and gave them the order to sacrifice their powers to wipe out the first invasion's armada. Farewell Space Pirates After the Gokaigers finally defeat Zangyack invasion force on Earth and the emperor Marvelous returned all of the Ranger Keys to their original owners. It is assumed Kou has his powers back. Zyuohger vs. Ninninger KibaRanger appeared with his team among the first 38 Super Sentai whom collectively empowered Wild Tousai Shuriken King in its fight against the titanic Gillmarda, granting the Ninningers and Zyuohgers the power to perform the Zyuoh Ninnin Super Sentai Burst which destroyed Gillmarda with the combined power of all 40 Super Sentai. Super Sentai Strongest Battle Kou joined the Super Sentai Strongest Battle as a member of Extra Warrior Team. It’s unknown whether he participated in any of the matches, but his team lost the competition either in the first round against the Scientist Team offscreen or won against them and lost in the second round against Gilded Team offscreen. Akibaranger In Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger, due to the actions caused by General Tsu, the Akibarangers were made the 17th Super Sentai in place of the Dairangers. As a result, reality is rewritten to have Kibaranger be one of the two secondary Sentai heroes to be added in Gosei Sentai Akibaranger. However, the show's unpopularity resulted in its cancelation after 13 episodes with Kibaranger vowing revenge for never appearing on TV. Kibaranger appears before the Akibarangers as they are helping RyuuRanger, now degraded by the event into China Red. It turns out that Malseena employed Kibaranger to help her kill the Akibarangers, overwhelming them with MoJo's Battle Fever J and Yukio Yamagata's Gaoranger Hoeru yet letting them go out of whim. Eventually, with Akiba Yellow acting the role of Rin during Dairanger episode 33, the Akibarangers restore Kou's memories of being the Dairangers' sixth member. The six Dairangers later appeared with the now five official Sentai, transforming into their Ludicrous Power which combined with the others to form the Ludicrous Cannon Bazooka, which the Akibarangers used to destroy Kameari Alpaca. Video game appearances Super Sentai Battle: Dice-O *'Profile' :Kou of the Howling New Star/KibaRanger: to be added Super Sentai Battle Base KibaRanger is among the vast pantheon of Rangers which are avaliable in the mobile game Super Sentai Battle Base. Super Sentai Legend Wars KibaRanger appears with his team among all Sentai in the mobile game Super Sentai Legend Wars. Gosei Sentai Dairanger in Super Sentai Legacy Wars.png|Dairanger as seen in Super Sentai Legend Wars Forms As KibaRanger, Kou lacks any real fighting experience and is totally dependent on Byakko's guidance during battles. He uses his kiryoku to control sound, generating noise of such intensity that opponents take physical damage from it. - Akibaranger= Arsenal *Byakkoshinken }} Ranger Key The is Kou's personal Ranger Key and what became of his powers after he along with the rest of the 34 Super Sentai sacrificed their powers to end the Great Legend War. This key, along with the other fourteen sixth ranger keys and the ten extra hero keys, were initally acquired by Basco ta Jolokia and later used by the Gokaigers. Like all of his Ranger Keys, Basco used his trumpet, the Rapparatta, to turn the KibaRanger key into a puppet to do his bidding. The copy KibaRanger was one of the remaining ten sixth rangers after the Gokaigers defeated the first five, with Basco using these ten to ambush the Gokaigers and take all of them hostage bar Marvelous. When Marvelous rescued them, they defeated all 10 puppets and claimed the Ranger Keys. A short while after, the first fourteen Sixth Ranger Keys, along with all the Ranger Keys of the first 33 Super Sentai, were briefly taken by the Black Cross King and turned into Ranger puppets that were fought by the Gokaigers and the Goseigers. The KibaRanger key was among ten of these Sixth Ranger Keys who fought, and were defeated by, Gosei Knight. While in the possession of the Gokaigers, the KibaRanger Ranger Key was mainly used by Gai Ikari (Gokai Silver), who used it to fight as KibaRanger. *When the Gokaigers became the Dairangers while fighting Action Commander Stargul. *When the Gokaigers became the Dairangers in their fight with Action Commander Zakyura. *As part of an all-white Gokai Change in the Gokaigers' fight with Makuu Prison Chief Ashrada. *When the Gokaigers became the Dairangers while fighting against Basco after Marvelous was incapacitated. After Zangyack were finally defeated, the Gokaigers gave the Ranger Keys back to their rightful owners. It's presumed that like his teammates, Kou received his key and became KibaRanger once more. Behind the scenes '' eyecatch.]] Portrayal Kou of the Howling New Star is portrayed by . As KibaRanger, his suit actor was . Notes * He is the first Sentai Hero to be a child. **He's also the only child Sentai Warrior to be under 10 years old while part of an active team. **His situation is similar to that of Justin Stewart of Power Rangers Turbo, both in being a child on the team and growing into being a Ranger when transforming. * He is the only Dairanger to have a Power Rangers counterpart. *He is also the first 6th Ranger to be a White Ranger as opposed to having one that is a part of the core team. Followed by Mikoto Nakadai 10 years later and Tekkan Aira. *Until Kakuranger, Kou was technically the first male Sentai White, as the second series, J.A.K.Q. Dengekitai, which was the only previous series to have a male White Ranger, was not part of the Super Sentai series until Toei included it with Gorenger when Ohranger was announced. *Because a new KibaRanger wasn't shown in the final episode of Dairanger, it can be assumed that either the KibaRanger powers ceased to exist, Kou received them and became KibaRanger once again, or that a new sucessor wasn't chosen yet. *KibaRanger is the first sixth ranger to frequently enter the cockpit of his mecha. (His only official predecessor, Burai/Dragonranger, only entered his mecha's cockpit once in his last battle). *He's also the first sixth ranger to fight on the hero's side immediately during his debut, unlike his predecessor Burai who started off evil. *The story arc of his identity being a mystery would be mirrored later on in the Power Rangers adaptation of Ohranger, Power Rangers Zeo, with the Gold Ranger. Appearances * Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger **''Ep. 1: The Space Pirates Appear'' ** Gokaiger Goseiger Super Sentai 199 Hero Great Battle * Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger **''Ep. 29: The Monarch of the Monarchs'' ** Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger vs. Ninninger: Message from the Future from Super Sentai }} See Also & Season 3 *Justin Stewart - The first child ranger who appeared in'' Power Rangers Turbo.'' External links *KibaRanger at the [http://www.dice-o.com/ Super Sentai Battle: Dice-O official website] *KibaRanger at the Dice-O Wiki References Category:Sentai Ranger Category:Sentai White Category:Sentai Sixth Ranger Category:Dairangers Category:Sentai Sword-users Category:Imaginary Legend Category:Sentai Male Rangers Category:Dai Tribe Category:Sentai Non-Color Names Category:Sentai Mythic Animal-themed Rangers Category:Sentai Animal-themed Rangers Category:Sentai Feline-themed Rangers Category:Sentai Martial Arts-themed Rangers